In the wake of the ongoing and escalating Israel–Palestine war many people across the world want to express their support for a ceasefire or protest against the alleged genocide being committed by the Israeli government. Many are considering doing this by boycotting Israeli, or Israeli linked, products found on supermarket shelves across the world. This method of boycotting products in order to create economic pressure to further a peaceful or just objective is a tried and tested method as is evidenced by the successful boycott movement against apartheid South Africa in the 1980s. The latest SA example
South Africa, beyond launching its recent ICJ genocide case against Israel and having its own successful boycott history, continues to serve as an excellent example of what boycott threats and practice can achieve.
After Israel began to disproportionately bombard Gaza’s densely populated civilian areas in response to the Oct 7th Hamas attack, the Woolworths chain of department stores and supermarkets in South Africa bowed to domestic political pressure and removed key Israeli products from their shelves. One of the products of prominence in this boycott effort was the Sabra brand of hummus.
Now this does seem to be a lot of fuss just for hummus. But according to Business Day, it was following pressure from an activist group called Africa4Palestine that Woolworths made their decision. Although the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, an opposition political party that holds 44 seats in the South African parliament, also made public threats and calls for Woolworths to remove Israeli products. The leader of the EFF Julius Malema stated in October: “Woolworths has a responsibility by the end of this month to remove every product on their shelves that comes from Israel. If they don’t, we will remove it ourselves,”
The protests outside of branches of Woolworths and general pressure from Africa4Palestine and elsewhere eventually led to the CEO of Woolworths sending the following statement to Africa4Palestine:
“We do not have any products on our shelves that are for sale that have been imported from Israel. Not stocking products from Israel aligns with the principles of ethical consumerism,”
This statement followed not long after a public statement by Woolworths which read:
“As always, the safety and wellbeing of our employees and customers is our top priority. Given the significant and credible threats we have received, and in order to do our best to safeguard our employees and customers, we took the decision to pre-emptively suspend the sale of the one product we had on our shelves that was imported from Israel. Woolies always endeavours to do the right thing by our employees, our customers and society at large. We continue to do this as we navigate these very challenging times,” Let us bear in mind that making threats, beyond boycotting, to employees and customers is not recommended or even required for a successful economic boycott.
A successful consumer boycott only needs to see Israeli products either removed or to sit gathering dust unpurchased on shelves around the world. If achieved, this means less tax revenue for the Israeli state to spend on bombs and bullets and creates immense financial pressure from the rest of Israeli society to demand their government to uphold and follow international law.
The BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) Movement
The official BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) Movement is a Palestinian-led initiative aimed at guiding global universal boycott efforts in accordance with international law against the three forms of injustice being committed by the Israeli regime: occupation and colonisation, infringement of fundamental rights of equality and the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes and properties. BDS, currently dealing with a great deal of attention and numerous hacking attempts following current events, has since stipulated the list of international companies that have been associated to violations of Palestinian human rights. These stipulations have in turn been met with an excess of misleading information and false claims and accusations leading to unnecessary confusion reaching final consumers who wish to conduct a boycott. In light of this, Stated.Press has taken the initiative to clarify the companies currently listed for their complicit behaviour and to help shed light on this topic.
Many people have been sharing other very long and complicated boycott diagrams with far too many companies on them. This has been overwhelming consumers who don’t know where to start, and more so, boycotting a certain company in one country might actually undermine the effort elsewhere. Without wishing to repeat the entirety of the BDS’ efforts, we have chosen to share the list of companies to target that appear first on their site.
As stipulated by the body itself, for a boycott to be successful it needs to be targeted, achieving the combined pressure from consumers. Thus it is felt at the same time by select companies, sending a strong message rather than spreading the pressure thin across countless brands and products. Ideally one should follow statements from the official BDS Movement and follow their boycott updates closely. Boycott List As BDS states, these companies have been “carefully selected due to the company's proven record of complicity in Israeli apartheid”. 1. HP (Hewlett Packard Inc)
According to BDS “HP Inc (US) provides services to the offices of genocide leaders, Israeli PM Netanyahu and Financial Minister Smotrich. HPE, which shares the same brand, provides technology for Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority, a pillar of its apartheid regime.” It also runs the biometric ID system used by Israel in their efforts to restrict the free movement of Palestinian individuals.
Potential products:
Laptops, desktop computers, monitors, printers, and other computer accessories.
Where to find HP products:
UK:
Use the HP locator yourself to find out:
USA:
HP products can be found at the following stores and retailers listed in the image bellow:
2. PUMA
Puma is a German sportswear manufacturer and the main sponsor of the Israel Football Association (IFA). The association boosts unsanctioned Israeli settler teams on illegally occupied Palestinian territory.
Potential products:
Where to find Puma products:
Puma can be found in countless sportswear and shoe stores across the world.
3. Siemens
The technology company is heavily rooted in Israel with assets invested in various Israeli companies and with active infrastructure projects worth billions of dollars. Siemens has long ago moved away from producing mobile phones and doesn’t really make common consumer products. It engages in a variety of business, energy, rail, efficiency and management products and services. So the best way to boycott them might be to see if they are partnered with your local government or municipality for projects such as maintenance on your local rail or transport system, or perhaps the local renewable energy grid. Big companies might also be using Siemens for an internal automation or efficiency system. In the UK, Siemens is heavily involved in the city of Manchester where their UK HQ is located. As Siemens explains:
“This will be achieved by partnering with Manchester City Council, University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University.”
Siemens also has a project with Sheffield University.
As well as numerous local government’s in the UK.
Where to find Siemens affiliated initiatives: Siemens works with hundreds of companies, universities, and local councils across the USA and the world. Check on their site how they might be working near you: https://www.siemens.com/us/en/products.html
Store and Distributor finder for the USA:
5. AXA
AXA invests heavily in Israeli banks. The French multinational insurance giant AXA is known for its investments and partnerships in Israeli banks. Unsurprisingly these Israeli banks are involved with the Israeli settlements on Palestinian land that are illegal by international law. These banks and by extension AXA, work closely with enterprises that operate on occupied Palestinian land.
AXA also had investments with the arms company Elbit Systems. The leading Israeli arms manufacturer that produces over 80% of the Israeli military’s land based equipment. The Israeli military being the key institution that carries out crimes and atrocities against Palestinians.
Their investment in the crimes of Israel recently increased, as BDS explains :
“By August 2023, however, AXA has again increased its complicity in Israel’s illegal settlements as a shareholder in 3 Israeli banks: Bank Hapoalim (US$ 9.99M), Leumi Bank (US$ 6M), Israel Discount Bank (US$ 3.4M)”.
Potential products:
AXA is an insurance company so they offer insurance products across the board from large companies, house insurance, to personal and medical insurance. They offer their products around the world in 51 countries.
Where to find AXA products:
6. SodaStream
SodaStream is an Israeli founded company. It has since been bought by Pepsico (Pepsi, Doritos, Quaker, 7UP, Tropicana, Gatorade, Lay’s, Mirinda, Mountain Dew, Chewy Granola Bars etc). The company manufactured its products in occupied Palestinian territory and despite moving its operations to Israel it has since been associated with the negative treatments and firing of Palestinian workers on no legal grounds.
The official BDS Movement has called only for the boycott of SodaStream. However, the local boycott situation in countries around the world might have its own phenomenon. For instance in Egypt people have chosen to boycott most Western soft drinks, coca-cola, pepsi and others, included.
However, Pepsico has many products and owns many sub-companies’ products around the world. Be aware that even if you choose to boycott Pepsi/Pepsico you might end up buying one of their locally owned alternative products anyway. For example in South Africa Pepsico sells Lays potato chips but they also own the company that makes, seemingly local but not anymore, Simba potato chips.
We suggest to follow guidance from BDS and if you feel the situation is different in your country of residence, then try and engage with the local branch of BDS for guidance and leadership.
Potential SodaStream Products:
SodaStream offers a selection of home sparkling water makers, home carbonation systems, bottles, flavours, and so on.
7. Ahava (Cosmetics)
Ahava cosmetics has access to the unsanctioned use of resources from the Dead Sea through their operations that are conducted in occupied Palestine. Ahava has long been a target of boycott efforts and has attempted to clean up their operations after dropping sales and much economic pain. Ahava’s woes are a sign that boycott efforts against Israeli crimes are working.
Where to find Ahava products:
Ahava’s skincare products can be found in the USA (Walmart), UK, Germany, and in many skincare and health stores around the world.
8. Sabra (Hummus)
Food manufacturer of the earlier mentioned hummus that was removed from the shelves of South African supermarket chain Woolworths. Sabra Dipping Company, LLC is co-owned by PepsiCo and the Strass Group, while Nestle owns a controlling stake. The company operates in occupied Palestine and also actively provides financial support to the Israeli armed forces.
As The Phoenix explains:
“Sabra Hummus is a joint venture between PepsiCo and the Strauss Group, a multinational corporation and Israel’s largest food and beverage company. The Strauss Group materially supports and sends care packages to the Golani Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces, a fact that was once stated on the company’s website but has since been removed due to pressure from pro-Palestine groups. Even by the abysmal human rights standards of the IDF, the Golani Brigade is particularly brutal: since its inception, the Brigade has carried out countless human rights violations against Palestinians — particularly in Hebron and in the siege on Gaza (Operation Cast Lead) from 2008-2009 — including arbitrary murders, assaults, detentions, home invasions, and arrests of children.”
Backed up by the NYT:
“But one of Sabra’s joint owners is the Strauss Group, an Israeli food company that according to its website provides financial support to the Golani brigade, part of Israel’s military force. (The other joint owner is PepsiCo.)”
Conclusion
Overall this is certainly not the end of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions effort to uphold international law in Palestine and Israel, this might be the beginning of a new chapter. If the BDS movement gains more and more momentum in a similar manner as those in the past then the economic burden will eventually take a toll on the ability of the Israeli regime to continue committing crimes. If the campaign includes enough people and their purchasing power in a targeted and mass manner then the campaign might not need to hold the pressure for that long.
Leaders of the current Israeli government are aware that a BDS movement is an existential threat to the kind of Israeli state they want to continue to operate. This is why they have made extensive efforts to block and undermine boycott efforts in places like New York City and even potentially in the UK parliament. At the end of the day though, once enough people are made aware of where, how, or with who a product is made, it is very difficult to force them to purchase those items again and to ever support again the companies that produce them . Ignorance is the only true threat to this kind of campaign. Once the “cat” is out of the shopping bag it is very hard to get it back in.
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